Miners charged over Soesdyke break-ins

Two neighbours were yesterday released on bail each after denying two counts of break-and-enter-and-larceny charges.

Michael Lawrence, 33, and Anthony Rogers, 24, denied that during the night of August 26, on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, they broke and entered the dwelling house of Rita Hyman and stole an LG 950 gasoline generator, valued $19,000.

Additionally, the men are accused of breaking into Darwin Canterbury’s Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke-Linden Highway house, from which they allegedly stole two cell phones, two bags of clothing, a gold band, a flat hair iron and $10,000, amounting to $117,000 in total value.

The jointly-charged men both denied charges read to them by Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

In a bail application, attorney Paul Fung-A-Fat, who represented both men, said they were both miners and they have no pending matters.

He added that the stolen generator was found in a yard close by his clients’ residences but stressed it was not in their yards.

Fung-A-Fat said the defendants live in close proximity to each other at Grand Sand Road, Soesdyke, where there are no lot numbers.

According to him, the generator was recovered—a claim that was substantiated by Prosecutor Simone Payne, who also said some of the clothing referred to in the charge was also recovered. She had no objections to the men being granted bail, which the court set at $80,000 on each charge per defendant.

They will make their next court appearance at the Providence Magistrate’s Court on October 14.